{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2018}} {{Use British English|date=September 2012}} {{Infobox album <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Albums --> | name = Desperate Straights | type = studio | artist = Slapp Happy with Henry Cow | cover = HenryCow_AlbumCover_DesperateStraights.jpg | released = {{Start date|df=yes|1975|2|21}} | recorded = 11–26 November 1974 | studio = The Manor, Oxfordshire, England *Nova Sound Studios, London | genre = Avant-rock, art pop, cabaret | length = {{Duration|m=36|s=02}} | label = Virgin (UK) | producer = Slapp Happy, Henry Cow, Simon Heyworth | misc = {{Extra chronology | artist = Slapp Happy | type = studio | prev_title = Slapp Happy | prev_year = 1974 | title = Desperate Straights | year = 1975 | next_title = In Praise of Learning | next_year = 1975 }} {{Extra chronology | artist = Henry Cow | type = studio | prev_title = Unrest | prev_year = 1974 | title = Desperate Straights | year = 1975 | next_title = In Praise of Learning | next_year = 1975 }} }}
'''''Desperate Straights''''' is a collaborative studio album by British avant-rock groups Slapp Happy and Henry Cow. It was recorded at Virgin Records' Manor Studio and Nova Sound Studios in November 1974, and released in February 1975. It was Slapp Happy's second album for Virgin, and they had invited Henry Cow to record with them.
==Content== The album is a blend of Henry Cow's avant-garde music and Slapp Happy's nostalgic pop,{{sfn|Garmo|2020|p=72}} and the success of this collaboration led to the two bands merging and recording ''In Praise of Learning'' in 1975. "Europa" and "War (Is Energy Enslaved)" were recorded for a single by Slapp Happy with session musicians in May 1974, but it was not released. The two songs were re-recorded with Henry Cow for this album. "War" was released later on Slapp Happy and Henry Cow's second collaborative album ''In Praise of Learning''.{{sfn|Piekut|2019|pp=175–178}}<ref name=MacDonald/> The lyrics of the song "A Worm Is at Work" refers to the song "War", and the lyrics of "Europa" relates to William Blake's ''Europe a Prophecy'' (1794).{{sfn|Garmo|2020|p=74}}<ref name=Erskine/>
The songs "Extract from the Messiah" and "A Worm Is at Work" appear on the Virgin Records sampler album ''V'', with "Extract from the Messiah" credited to Slapp Happy and "A Worm Is at Work" credited to Henry Cow.<ref name=Discogs/>
==CD reissues== *In 1993 Virgin Records reissued ''Desperate Straights'' together with Slapp Happy's ''Casablanca Moon'' on a single CD. *In 2004 Recommended Records issued a remastered version of ''Desperate Straights'' on CD by itself. This edition improves the audio considerably, but includes much longer gaps between the songs, adding about forty seconds of silence.
==Reception== {{Music ratings | rev1 = AllMusic | rev1Score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}<ref name="allmusic"/> | rev2 = ''Pitchfork'' | rev2Score = 8.2/10<ref name="Pitchfork"/> }} In a review of ''Desperate Straights'' at AllMusic, Ted Mills described the album as "surprisingly melodic", given the musicians behind it.<ref name="allmusic"/> He said it is "light on the art-school angst and heavy on the playfulness".<ref name="allmusic"/> "Some Questions About Hats" reminded Mills of Kurt Weill, while Blegvad's "Strayed" sounded like Kevin Ayers art rock.<ref name="allmusic"/>
Reviewing the album at ''Pitchfork'', Dominique Leone felt that even though Henry Cow features prominently in the recording's baroque sound, it is Moore and Blegvad's songs that "steal the show".<ref name="Pitchfork"/> They use "delicate" instruments – "soft" piano, brushed cymbals, violin, clarinet – and are closer to Weill and art song than contemporary pop music. Leone recommended ''Desperate Straights'' to "anyone into pushing the chamber-pop envelope".<ref name="Pitchfork"/>
Pete Erskine wrote in ''New Musical Express'' in April 1975 that "''Desperate Straights'' cannot be recommended too highly".<ref name=Erskine/> He described the album as "an extended lament intended to awaken the wearers of rose-tinted spectacles". Erskine stated that the music is "jagged, angular and at time (deliberately) grotesque – not the kind of thing you have humming softly in the background whilst doing the ironing."<ref name=Erskine/>
==Track listing== {{tracklist | headline = Side one | title_width = 40% | title1 = Some Questions About Hats | writer1 = Anthony Moore, Peter Blegvad | length1 = 1:49 | title2 = The Owl | writer2 = Moore | length2 = 2:14 | title3 = A Worm Is at Work | writer3 = Moore, Blegvad | length3 = 1:52 | title4 = Bad Alchemy | writer4 = John Greaves, Blegvad | length4 = 3:06 | title5 = Europa | writer5 = Moore, Blegvad | length5 = 2:48 | title6 = Desperate Straights | writer6 = Moore | length6 = 4:14 | title7 = Riding Tigers | writer7 = Blegvad | length7 = 1:43 }} {{tracklist | headline = Side two | title_width = 40% | title8 = Apes in Capes | writer8 = Moore | length8 = 2:14 | title9 = Strayed | writer9 = Blegvad | length9 = 1:53 | title10 = Giants | writer10 = Moore, Blegvad | length10 = 1:57 | title11 = Excerpt from ''The Messiah'' | writer11 = George Frideric Handel, arr. Blegvad | length11 = 1:48 | title12 = In the Sickbay | writer12 = Dagmar Krause, Blegvad | length12 = 2:08 | title13 = Caucasian Lullaby | writer13 = Chris Cutler, Moore | length13 = 8:20 }}
==Personnel== ;Slapp Happy *Dagmar Krause (credited as "Dagmar") – voice, Wurlitzer ("In the Sickbay") *Peter Blegvad – guitar, voice *Anthony Moore – piano ;Henry Cow *Tim Hodgkinson – clarinet, piano ("Caucasian Lullaby") *Fred Frith – guitar, violin *John Greaves – bass guitar, piano ("Bad Alchemy") *Chris Cutler – drums, etc.
;Additional musicians *Geoff Leigh – flute *Pierre Moerlen – percussion ("Europa") *Mont Campbell – French horn *Mongezi Feza – trumpet *Nick Evans – trombone *Lindsay Cooper – bassoon, oboe
;Production *Slapp Happy – producer *Henry Cow – producer *Simon Heyworth – producer *Peter Blegvad – cover art *Bob Drake – remastered 2004 CD reissue
==References== <references>
<ref name="allmusic">{{cite web|last=Mills|first=Ted|title=Desperate Straights|url={{AllMusic|class=album|id=desperate-straights-mw0000482388|pure_url=yes}}|website=AllMusic|access-date=30 April 2020}}</ref>
<ref name="Pitchfork">{{cite web|last=Leone|first=Dominique|author-link=Dominique Leone|title=Desperate Straights|url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/7780-desperate-straights-with-henry-cow/|website=Pitchfork|date=12 October 2004|access-date=30 April 2020}}</ref>
<ref name=MacDonald>{{cite news |url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/henry-cow-iin-praise-of-learningi |title=Henry Cow: ''In Praise of Learning'' |last=MacDonald |first=Ian |author-link=Ian MacDonald |date=7 June 1975 |newspaper=New Musical Express |issn=0028-6362 |access-date=11 June 2018 |url-access=subscription |via=Rock's Backpages}}</ref>
<ref name=Erskine>{{cite news |title=Wrap your pre-frontal lobes round this lot... |last=Erskine |first=Pete |date=5 April 1975 |newspaper=New Musical Express |issn=0028-6362 |page=10}}</ref>
<ref name=Discogs>{{cite web |url=https://www.discogs.com/release/1593038-Various-V |title=Various – V |website=Discogs |year=1975 |access-date=11 March 2023}}</ref>
</references>
==Works cited== *{{cite book |last=Garmo |first=Trond Einar |title=Henry Cow: An Analysis of Avant Garde Rock |publisher=ReR Megacorp / November Books |location=London |year=2020 |isbn=978-0-95601-84-4-1}} *{{cite book |last=Piekut |first=Benjamin |title=Henry Cow: The World Is a Problem |title-link=Henry Cow: The World Is a Problem |publisher=Duke University Press |year=2019 |isbn=978-1-47800-405-9}}
{{Slapp Happy}} {{Henry Cow}}
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Category:1975 collaborative albums Category:Slapp Happy albums Category:Henry Cow albums Category:Virgin Records albums Category:Recommended Records albums